Nansen Island (Kara Sea)

Nansen Island (Kara Sea)

Nansen Island (Russian: Остров Нансена), is a long and narrow island in the coast of the Kara Sea. Its length is 21 km (13 mi) and its average width about 2.5 km (1.6 mi). This island is located in an area of skerries right off the western coast of the Taymyr Peninsula. The narrow strait between Nansen island and the Siberian coast (Fram Strait) is about 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide on average.

The shores of Nansen Island and some of its larger neighboring islands, like Taymyra, Bonevi and Pilota Makhotkina, are deeply indented, with many crooked inlets. The sounds between this island and neighboring islands are also somewhat labyrinthic. Geologically all these coastal islands are a continuation of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago which lies further north. And sometimes Nansen Island is considered a part of it. Ostrov Vkhodnoy is a 0.75 km (0.47 mi) long islet located off Nansena's western end.

The sea surrounding Nansen Island is covered with pack ice with some polynias during the long and bitter winters and there are many ice floes even in the summer.

Nansen Island belongs to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of Russia and is part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve – the largest nature reserve of Russia and one of the biggest in the world.

Coordinates: 76°13′N 94°45′E / 76.217°N 94.750°E / 76.217; 94.750